Friday 9 March, 2012   David A. Selby   Elinchrom, Packs, Unreleased   7 Comments

Smaller, lighter battery for Elinchrom Ranger Quadra

This summer, Elinchrom will bring out a lithium battery pack for their Ranger Quadra RX location lighting system. Compared to the older lead-gel battery, the new one will be a kilogram lighter and 30% smaller but with double the capacity. It will weigh just 730 grams and be compatible with all Quadra packs.

Elinchrom Lithium Ion Battery Box for Ranger Quadra

The old lead-gel and new lithium-ion battery packs

Two prototype units were on show at The Flash Centre‘s stand at Focus On Imaging, with the option to add your name to the waiting list. A retail price hasn’t yet been announced but release is set for June 2012.

Elinchrom spokesman Simon Whittle said,

They are much lighter than the Lead-gel and give better performance but will be  considerably more expensive than the Lead-gel batteries because lithium is both dangerous and toxic so they require very comprehensive software managed circuits, both in the battery box and in the charger.

Because of the lithium-ion pack’s higher price and potential difficulties at airports and seaports, the existing lead-gel system will not be discontinued, for the benefit of “those who wish to save money and potential hassle”.

  • trailboy

    I was ‘reliably’ informed it would be £270.

    • Mario Moschel

      £270 is 320 euros which means exactly the double price as the existing lead batteries – by more than doubling the flashes, faster recycling and less weight and size.

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  • Gary

    I would dearly love to see them do the exact same thing with the Ranger RX.

    • http://sdphoto.com.au Sam

      I was thinking exactly the same thing. Obviously it doesn’t need smaller (as the pack goes inside the case), but lighter would be fantastic.

  • Louisa

    It said on their stand that it will cost £300, or you can get it for £270 if you pre-order and pay £100 deposit. Yeah, right:)

    Thing is, they say that it will double the number of flashes, which means that it will produce just 220 flashes at maximum power, which is less than half the power of the Lencarta Li-on. The Li-on not only has more than twice the power of the Quadra, it’s also a lot tougher and has over 1,300 flashes at the Quadra’s max power setting.

    It looks like a rip off to me, they’re playing a game of catchup with Lencarta and Profoto and getting lost in the dust.

  • RayRaff

    Unfortunately the new lithium ion batteries are NOT 100% backward compatible. If you bought your set in the first year or so of manufacturer then the flash heads need to be modified or they’ll not work with the new battery. Elinchrom are charging owners of these sets between £20 and £40 per head for the “upgrade” to make them work with the new battery, which is a separate purchase of £300 for the battery and the new charger.

    See http://www.theflashcentre.com/ranger-quadra-lithium-ion-compatibility-modifications-c498.html for details of the incompatibility issue and the costs for the head “upgrade” to make them work with the new battery.

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